Frost Snow Project was not facing internet trolls for the first time.
There had been one instance right when it launched.
But this was normal.
--In this world, the ACG Game circle was a very magical place; anyone mixing in this circle would sooner or later get review-bombed.
Either bombed by players, bombed by trolls, or bombed by both together.
If you released a new game and neither trolls nor players trashed it, that mostly meant your game was completely dead and no one cared at all.
When Frost Snow Project had just launched, relying on a relatively rare positioning, the treatment it enjoyed was the premium package--being review-bombed by players and trolls together.
Yet this "welcome ceremony" lasted only three or four days.
After that, presumably having sensed the dead-on-arrival vibe of Frost Snow Project, competitor companies quickly stopped topping up funds for the trolls.
Then the popularity of Frost Snow Project rapidly ushered in a cliff-like decline.
"What's the situation this time?"
"Could it be that some competitor company has extraordinary insight and thinks that Frost Snow Project will pose a threat to them after its transformation?"
"Hmm..."
Xu Meng pondered for a few seconds, trying to find the mastermind behind the scenes.
There were over a dozen notable ACG Game companies, making it simply impossible to guess.
In the end, he could only first make a note in his little notebook, toss his phone away unhappily, and go to sleep.
As soon as he arrived at the company the next day, Xu Meng aggressively ran to the Operations Department to look for trouble with the person in charge.
"Do you know who is hiring trolls to steer the narrative against us?"
"Ah?" Operations Director Song Zhicheng blinked in bewilderment, clearly having no mental preparation whatsoever for this question.
Seeing this expression of his, Xu Meng helplessly pressed his forehead.
That thought from yesterday surfaced in his mind once more--how could anyone make a good game with this bunch of pests?
Yet he shook his head, casting this excessive thought out of his mind.
He fished out his phone, opened the comment section of the Frost Snow Project account, and pointed it at Song Zhicheng.
Song Zhicheng flipped through a few pages and said somewhat uncertainly, "Were these posted by trolls?"
Xu Meng took a deep breath and raised a hand to cover his chest.
--Behind him, little assistant Chen Mengling had already reached her hand into her inner jacket pocket.
"You're asking me? Are you the operations director or am I the operations director!?"
Song Zhicheng fell silent.
"No, haven't you been mixing in this industry for over seven years?" Seeing him like this, Xu Meng felt somewhat disappointed that he failed to meet expectations. "Haven't you made some industry friends, troll leaders, or anything like that?"
Song Zhicheng had nothing to say.
It took him quite a while to squeeze out a sentence: "I... don't like trolls, and haven't had much contact with them."
"?" A question mark slowly popped up over Xu Meng's head.
You worked in ACG Game operations, and even reached the position of director; disliking trolls was normal, but having had hardly any contact with them--wasn't that a bit...
"My previous two departures were both because I was fired for resisting the use of trolls to attack industry peers," Song Zhicheng confessed somewhat laboriously.
"..."
Xu Meng wanted to say something, yet felt it was somewhat unsayable.
It turned out the operations director of Dream Builder was actually a high-principled idealist?
Impressive.
It was just a pity, buddy, you chose the wrong track.
You shouldn't have come to an ACG Game company; you should have gone to those companies making stand-alone games.
In that place, idealists were everywhere, each one more stubborn than the last.
Xu Meng sighed powerlessly, "Forget it."
"Being unwilling to attack peers is fine, but you can't just sit and wait for death when others attack you. Here, try asking around with your former colleagues."
"If you can't find out, forget it."
"If you manage to find out which company it is, you don't even need to hire trolls, just tell me and I'll personally curse them right back."
"Ah? Oh, okay." Song Zhicheng was stunned for a moment, and upon reacting, nodded hastily.
"Also, remember to hurry up with the VTuber girls I asked you to contact, and don't skimp on the budget."
"Understood, already making appointments."
"Alright, tell me promptly once you find out." Xu Meng exhorted him once more before leaving the Operations Department.
Passing through the public office area, he distinctly felt an unsettled aura circulating among the crowd.
Unlike the turmoil from yesterday--when they learned the company might go out of business, the boss successively laid off the heads of the Narrative Department and Art Department, and drastically adjusted work content--
This aura held no anxiety, but instead surged with covert joy and anticipation.
Especially a few individuals, who were smiling exceptionally lewdly.
Xu Meng was clueless.
"What's their situation?" he asked Chen Mengling.
The little assistant pointed at Chen Wanzhong not far away, "Although their reactions are different, the reason is the same."
Xu Meng looked in the direction she pointed and found Chen Wanzhong sitting restlessly with a flushed face, clenching his fists from time to time to pump himself up.
"What is he nervous about? Going on a blind date?"
"Didn't Boss say to send invitations to modeling agencies and invite models to come over for reference material gathering? The models are arriving this afternoon." The little assistant finally revealed the answer.
"Chen Wanzhong is too nervous, but in order to do the job well, he can't not look; this is him doing mental preparation."
"The other employees simply haven't seen many models in real life and are probably looking forward to watching a live show or something."
"Watching a live show?" Xu Meng shook his head instinctively.
Yet after shaking his head, he fell into thought.
In order to achieve the material-gathering effect, they had offered the talent agencies double the price to get them to agree to allow staff members other than the photographers to observe during the shooting process.
The company certainly lacked money, but the appearance fee of third-rate models for an afternoon was actually very low.
--So low that it made Xu Meng somewhat wonder how they all managed to survive.
Still, low appearance fees aside, due respect had to be given.
Xu Meng had his subordinate employees modify the large office dedicated to motion capture, and also cleared out a rest area and a fitting room.
The observing staff would not swarm in like watching monkeys either; instead, a viewing area was designated, and photography was forbidden.
--The motion-capture venue was Dream Builder's largest indoor space, large enough to exceed Dream Builder's proper scale, so accommodating this many people was effortless.
Without a doubt, this was also a legacy left behind by the former boss Zhang Yang.
Anyway, Xu Meng requested that the process be made as professional as possible to eliminate any potential awkwardness for the models.
Thinking about it this way, turning this "material gathering" into a model-watching team-building event didn't seem unfeasible either.
The models could receive an extra red envelope to subsidize their lives.
The employees could also dispel the anxiety of company turbulence and layoffs, boosting morale so they could plunge into the fiery crunch-time overtime schedule that followed.
"Do you want to watch too?" he asked his assistant.
The little assistant was a bit embarrassed, but seeing that Xu Meng didn't seem to be joking, she nodded immediately with excitement, "Want to! Super want!"
"Then that's settled; go find Zhang Ge and Sister Chen and have them organize it."
These two people—one responsible for external liaising and the other managing internal coordination—were both rare "older" employees over 40 years old at Dream Builder, experienced and quite reliable.
Sister Chen in particular handled both administration and human resources, and enjoyed exceptional popularity in the company.
Xu Meng watched the little assistant trot all the way to find people, and nodded with satisfaction.
Having a company was indeed more comfortable than fighting solo.
Playing the hands-off manager felt truly wonderful!
He unscrewed his thermos cup, took small sips of goji berry tea, and leisurely strolled over to the workstations of the art staff to watch them draw the new version illustrations.
He was most familiar with Ding Nian and Xu Fang, so he walked over to look at their artwork.
Yet the moment he saw Ding Nian's screen, the half-finished goji berry tea sprayed straight out of his throat.
"Cough, cough, cough!!"
He was choked into a fit of frantic coughing.
Ding Nian, who was engrossed in drawing, turned around blankly.
On the computer screen beside her was a red-haired mature woman with not a stitch of clothing on her entire body, lying on her side on a dark red sofa and drinking red wine.
That was Tong Que, the female character with the heaviest screen time in the early stage of Frost Cold Project.
"Why are you, cough, cough! Why are you drawing a character without clothes?" Xu Meng asked laboriously while coughing.
I did tell you to draw the character a bit sexier, but I didn't say to leave off her clothes!
This stuff won't pass censorship!!
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